The new attack

Interview with Ernesto Ledesma (CAPISE) about the Mexican State's new offensive against the zapatist indigenous communities in Chiapas / Mexico.

Ernesto Ledesma reports during his European Tour how threats and repression by paramilitary groups and governmental institutions have increased to a dramatic level in recent months.

Ernesto is staff member of CAPISE, an NGO documenting and analysing the counter-insurgence strategies against the zapatistas and other indigenous communities.

“We have made war and and so we recognize the ways it is prepared and comes closer. The signs for war on the horizon are clear. War has an odor, just like fear has. And now we can already smell its bad odor in our land.”

Subcomandante Marcos during the last public appearance of the EZLN, December 2007.

7:21 minutes

More Films about: Latin America

¿En Oaxaca no pasa nada?

The Year 2006, Oaxaca, Mexico. A teacher's strike is brutally reprimanded by the local authorities. The population then decides to overthrow the authority and govern themselves. After six months, President Fox deploys special armed forces to "restore order". There is very little coverage of the events by the media. Two years later, many still hope for a social change and dream of revolution. This film is born from the want to understand what drives a woman or an elderly person to leave their homes to build barricades.

documentary about social movements in Mexico

"The opportunity that presents itself right now in Mexico is, that for the first time, people are seriously outlining an idea of how to solve problems with their own means and in mutual solidarity. For the first time since Mexico's independence people have stopped turning their eyes upwards and waiting for some good lord or hero to come and solve the problem...
Professional politicians have not managed to bring about results, and the misery has assumed such proportions that people have started working out their own initiatives."
Yeyo, coordinator of the "Universidad de la Tierra", Oaxaca 2007

chronicle of a rebellion in Oaxaca/Mexico

In the summer of 2006, a broad-based, non-violent, popular uprising exploded in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. Some compared it to the Paris Commune, while others called it the first Latin American revolution of the 21st century. But it was the people's use of the media that truly made history in Oaxaca.

Venezuela 2006

A two-month journey across Venezuela, from Lake Maracaibo to the Orinoco Delta. The people of the oil fields and the mining centres talk of their close encounter with these exploitations. For the first time, in the revolutionary Venezuela, a documentary delves deep in the problematic of oil and coal, from the angle of the life experience of communities, oil workers, indigenous people.

Argentina, Indymedia and the questions of communication

"i" is a meditation on the relationship between media and power as it is manifested by the worlds largest all volunteer network of media activists Indymedia. The feature-length documentary follows the first year of a small collective in Buenos Aires as it struggles amidst assassinations, a collapsing economy, and a whirlwind of political upheaval.

Indigenous women fighting for a dignified life in Chiapas, Mexico

Being indigenous in Chiapas, Mexico, generally means being poor and discriminated because of your dress, language, music, traditions and culture. And it's even harder for indigenous women because they often have no rights even within their own society.

a film about the events in Atenco / Mexico 2006

San Salvador Atenco, May 2006. A small town in the suburbs of Mexico City. Two months before the presidential elections, a conflict for land and rights escalates between the population of Atenco and the Mexican government. Unbelievable events take place: the police attack a marketplace, the inhabitants block the highways leading to the city, and confrontations between an outraged population and police forces break out. The state of emergency goes on for several days and culminates in the death of a 14 year old boy.

the large avenues

Chile is often considered an economic and social model in Latinamerica. This documentary tells another story. It leads us from the dictatorship under Pinochet straight to neoliberalism today. The military coup of 1973 started a violent economical and social restructuring ending in levels of privatisations that haven't reached Europe yet and a total market liberalisation. This has led not only to economic growth that the international press loves to highlight but also initiatied a total sell-out of the country to private capital and multinational corporations.